Google Vet Wants To Turn Your Hot Water Heater Into A “Virtual Power Plant”
September 7th, 2023 Via Axios, a look at one company’s efforts to turn hot water heaters into ‘virtual power plants’: Rick Klau spent nine years as a partner with Google Ventures, before leaving in [...]
One City’s Fight To Solve Its Sewage Problem With Sensors
September 7th, 2023 Via MIT Technology Review, an article on one city’s plans to make its aging sewers smarter: In the city of South Bend, Indiana, wastewater from people’s kitchens, sinks, washing machines, and [...]
Urbanization, Climate Change, and The Need for Sponge Cities
September 6th, 2023 Via Monthly Review, commentary on urbanization, climate change, and the need for sponge cities: Introduction According to the United Nations Population Fund’s 2009 report, 2008 was the first time [...]
Becoming a ‘Sponge City’ at Shenzhen Speed
September 6th, 2023 Via The Diplomat, a look at how Shenzhen is a prime example of China’s Sponge City Program, which aims to both prevent flooding and increase water supply in urban areas: In 2017, the city of [...]
Paris Aims To Expand Urban Cooling System That Uses Seine River Water
September 6th, 2023 Via Reuters, a report on Paris’ growing use of river water for urban cooling: The city of Paris plans to expand an urban cooling system that draws on water from the Seine river as it seeks to [...]
Making Cities More Absorbent: The Porous City Network
September 6th, 2023 Via Bloomberg, a look at efforts to make cities more absorbent: Kotchakorn Voraakhom is the founder and CEO of Landprocess, a landscape architecture company in Bangkok whose designs incorporate [...]

ABOUT
BLACK SWANS GREEN SHOOTS
Black Swans / Green Shoots examines the collision between urbanization and resource scarcity in a world affected by climate change, identifying opportunities to build sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure through the use of revolutionary capital, increased awareness, innovative technologies, and smart design to make a difference in the face of global and local climate perils.

'Black Swans' are highly improbable events that come as a surprise, have major disruptive effects, and that are often rationalized after the fact as if they had been predictable to begin with. In our rapidly warming world, such events are occurring ever more frequently and include wildfires, floods, extreme heat, and drought.

'Green Shoots' is a term used to describe signs of economic recovery or positive data during a downturn. It references a period of growth and recovery, when plants start to show signs of health and life, and, therefore, has been employed as a metaphor for a recovering economy.

It is my hope that Black Swans / Green Shoots will help readers understand both climate-activated risk and opportunity so that you may invest in, advise, or lead organizations in the context of increasing pressures of global urbanization, resource scarcity, and perils relating to climate change. I believe that the tools of business and finance can help individuals, businesses, and global society make informed choices about who and what to protect, and I hope that this blog provides some insight into the policy and private sector tools used to assess investments in resilient reinforcement, response, or recovery.